Flashlight



1944- J. R. AUFIERO FLASHLIGHT Filed April 13, 1943 AIM HTTORIVEYS I N VEN TOR. Jo/m 12 flu/zera Y rs... c aseless UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEJohn B. Anflero, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application April 13, 1948, Serial No. 482,831

8Claisns.

' they have frequentlyfurnished improper voltages. Additionally, theyhave failed completely. even prior to initial use.

With the foregoing in mind, the present invention aims to provide aflashlight which may readily be carried and which will be entirelyindependent of dry battery cells (at least insofar as direct operationof the lisht bulb is concerned).

Thus, a dependable unit is provided and which may be relied upon tofurnish adequate illumination whenever called upon and which unit willbe so constructed that it will not be detrimentaliy affected by eitherextremes of temperature or humidity.

A further object of the invention is that of furnishing a device of thistype and which may be readily operated to either energise or de-energinsthe associated light bulb or source of illumination.

Another object is that of furnishing a flashlight embracing a structurewhich may be readily provided by means of a series of standard unitssupplemented only-if desired-by certain features which are capable ofready and economicalmanufacture.

With these and other objects in mind, reference is had to theattachedsheet of drawinss illustrating a practical embodiment of theinvention,and in which:

' the casing.

bar I will be contiguous with the adjacent surfaces ofthe cover. Ahandle 0 may be mounted by the cover 1 and securing means indicated at Imay normally lock the cpver with respect to the casing so that theentire nmit may be transported as a single assembly and by means of thehandle I. When removed from the casing. the cover may be discarded andthe casing may still readily be carried by employing the cross-bar I asa handle. Normally, however, for protection of the parts the covershould remain applied to Secured to the forward end of the casing in anydesired manner is extension It. The latter may mount-a reflector i Iwhich in turn supports a bulb II of any proper voltage and type. Thehead of the latter, of course, extends in advance of the reflector andin turn in advance of that element a lens or transparent cover it may bemounted. These several elements may be capable o1 disassemblage andattachment to each other in any desired and conventional manner.

Disposed within the casing I is an internal combustion motor I. Thelatter may be of more or less conventional type and of the designcommonly employed to drive miniature airplanes, mo-

tor boats, etc. A driving shaft ll extends from this motor and iscoupled to a generator it. The latter is secured against movement withrespect to the casing and in proper alignment with the motor; a terminali'l extending lrom the gen- Now with a view to providing a mechanism Iwhich will enable an operator to start motor H m. 1 is a sectional planview taken throush a flashlight casing and showing the apparatusdisposedwithinthe'same:

1'18. 2 is a sectional side view taken along the lines .I---! and in thedirection of the arrows as indicated in Pig. 1:

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary transverse view, taken along the lines 8-! andin the direction of the arrows as indicated in Pig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of one form of circuit which maybe included within the foregoing apparatus. l

and consequently drive the generator I. to energize the bulb i2.attention is directed particularly to Fig. 8. In that view, it will benoted that the reference numeral it indicates a cap or head portionsecured to a plunger II slidably mounted by the casing I. This plungeris extended in the form or a rack ii, the teeth of which mesh with theteeth oi the pinion II. A spring I! may serve to normally retract the,rack and plunger. The interior of the pinion is formed to provide aseries of wedge-recesses which receive rollers or balls 24; Obviously,as the ternating current type.

ing of the carburetor to assure an initially rich.

mixture, etc. Thereafter, by projecting the plunger 20, the pinion 23will be rotated to p the shaft iii to start the engine. When the shaftI! once begins to rotate, the generator I6 will bedriven to producecurrent. This generator may either be of the direct current or alwillflow from the generator to energize the diament of bulb l2 and thus theillumination desired will be furnished by the flashlight. When it isdesired to interrupt the operation of the latter, this may readily beaccomplished by simply stopping the operation '01 the engine ll in oneo! the several well-known manners.

Having in mind that a unit of this type is to be independent offlashlight cells, the shaft I! may mount a magneto diagrammatically in-In any event, current plunger I. is projected against the action of theAlso, due to variations inR. P. M. 01' the engine l4, large variationsin voltage from the generator i6 might result. In order to avoiddimculties in this connection and as again indicated in Fig. 4 a voltageregulator 33 in the form of a coil may be interposed in the circuit.Thus again. any danger of the bulb fllament's being burned out by toohigh speed operation of the engine It will be avoided.

As will be understood, the illustration of Fig. 4 is only diagrammatic.The elements included within this showing might be modified in manydiflerent manners. If desired. a dual wire system might be employed inlieu oi the single lead and ground system which-has been shown. Also, itis not necessary in many instances that a magheto be utilized to providethe initial spark,

In this connection, attention is again invited to Fig. 1 particularly,in which the numerals 34 indicate wires which may be included within thecasing and which may extend from the generator through to the spark coil35. A condenser 38 may be included in the circuit and a lead mayproperly extend through to the circuit breaker 21 in order to assurethat a proper spark .may

be generated by the plug of the engine and in dicated by the referencenumeral 25. The leads,

condensers, etc., commonly employed in this connection have not beenillustrated in that they are well known to those skilled in the art.Suiflce it to say that this magneto will serve to energize the sparkplug of the engine ll so that simultaneously with a rotation of theshaft l5 current adequate for ignition will be furnished.

. The magneto unit need not necessarily be furnished but, in certainrespects, it may be desirable toemploy at least a flywheel at this pointilr; order to stabilize the operation 01' the shaft In certaininstances, it might be desired to energize and de-energize the filamentoi the bulb l2 without stopping and starting the engine it. Under thesecircumstances, ,an actuator 32 may be employed which, as shown in Fig.2, may be mounted on thecross-bar 8., Referring to Fig. 4, it will benoted that a circuit has been diagrammatically indicated and whichincludes a lead 28 extending iromthe bulb i2 and termir oting in acontact 21. A second contact 28 may be disposed immediately adjacentcontact 21, and a lead 29 may extend from this contact to, for example,a resistance 30 which, in common with the bulb i2, is grounded. Acontact 3| sequentially traverses contacts 28 and 21 and is secured tothe actuator 32. This contact is electrically coupled to the generatorii.

In operation, the actuator 32 may be moved from the position shown inFig. 4 to the left. Thus, contact 3| will engage contact 28 and anycurrent which has been built up by the generator will be dissipatedthrough lead 28 and resistance ll to the ground. Only after contact 3|has traversed contact 28 does it engage contact 21 to energize thebulb.. Due to th aforementioned dissipation of current, there will be nodanger of a sudden and high-voltage flowing through the bulb with theresult that the filament of the bulb I! might be burned out.

time sequence with the operation of the'latter.

As also shown especially in Fig. 2, the exhaust pipe of the engine mayextend beyond the easing so that products of combustion will not have toescape through the joint of the latter. Obviously, any desired muiilingstructure might be associated with this exhaust pipe, although this hasnot been shown. Also, in the leads as illustrated especially in Fig. 1,it is apparent that any desired element might be interposed within thecircuit to assure a sufllciently "hot" spark even under initial manualturning 01' the generator at the time the engine is to be started.

Thus, among others, the several objects of the invention as specificallyaforenoted are achieved. Obviously, numerous changes in construction andrearrangements of the parts might be resorted to without departing fromthe spirit oi the invention as defined by the claims.

I claim:

1. A flashlight including in combination a cas ing adapted to be carriedin the hand of the user, an internal combustion engine disposed withinsaid casing, a current generator also disposed within said casing andconnected to said en ine to be operated thereby, a bulb disposedadjacent one end of said casing, engine-starting means connected toinitiate operation of said engine, switch means for connecting saidBenerator and bulb and including relatively movable and engageable partscoupled to said bulb and generator, and charge-dissipating meansengageable by one of said parts prior to its engagement with the secondp rt.

2. A flashlight including in combination a one ing adapted to be carriedin the hand of the user, an internal combustion engine disposed withinsaid casing, a current generator also disposed within said casing andconnected to said means and contact, said element being connected tosaid generator.

3. A flashlight including in combination a'casing adapted to be carriedin the hand of the user, an internal combustion engine disposed withinsaid casing, a current generator also dis posed within said casing andconnected to said engine to be operated thereby, a bulb disposedadjacent one end of said casing, engine-startcross-bar fixed withrespect to said casing, and

a switch element carried by said cross-bar and connected to saidgenerator and bulb to establish a path of current flow between the same.

JOHN R. AUFIERO.

